Current Members:
Bryan Erickson (a.k.a. Hexfix93, Disease Factory) - lead vocals, composition, guitar, lyrics, mixing, production, various
Early projects, early changes, and first albums (1990–1995)
In the early 1990s, Erickson and Grigory, both residents of Colorado, brought together their shared interest in creating music to record a series of demos. With the addition of Gary Slaughter and Chris Workman, the group attempted several bands, including Disease Disco Factory, a parody of then-popular Dance group C+C Music Factory. Following a turbulent period for Erickson and Slaughter, Workman left the group. Slaughter and Erickson experimented with two new side-projects, Cyber Christ and Vortex. Cyber Christ explored a harsh and melancholy sound that was a sharp contrast to the group's other projects. When Erickson discovered that the term "Cyber Christ" had been used in the 1992 film The Lawnmower Man, he renamed the band Velvet Acid Christ in honor of a bad acid trip. The Vortex project was merged into Velvet Acid Christ to form one body of work.
In 1994, Workman returned to assist with the band's self-produced gothic-styled demo tape, Fate. Given encouraging response from friends, the band followed up with other self-produced albums, 1994's Pestilence, a dance-oriented album, and 1995's Neuralblastoma, a harder-sounding album.
Erickson, along with friends and minor contributors Steve Bird and Dan Olson, started the brief-lived record label Electro Death Trip (EDT) Records to better promote these recordings. In 1995, the three began distributing hand-made CD copies of Fate, Pestilence, and Neuralblastoma for resale in local music shops.
Label interest, touring, and a troubled rise (1996–2000)
Slaughter and Workman temporarily left the band during the first half of 1996 as Erickson continued the project alone, handing out copies of Velvet Acid Christ's recordings to industry representatives, including musician Bill Leeb of industrial pioneer Front Line Assembly. Leeb passed the music to Thorsten Stroht, a media promoter with European label Off-Beat Records. Off-Beat A&R negotiated a deal with the band.
For their first Off-Beat release, the group submitted 1996's Church of Acid, a compilation of selected tracks from Velvet Acid Christ's first three albums with an additional two new tracks, Disflux and Futile. Church of Acid was well received in Europe, and Futile became a regularly played track in many nightclubs across the continent. In 1997, United States label Pendragon Records released Church of Acid in America, though the two new tracks were removed due to a lack of trademark clearance for television samples used in the songs.
The band's next album, Calling Ov the Dead, was rejected by Off-Beat for not sounding edgy enough, prompting Slaughter's permanent departure. With the assistance of Bird and Olson, the band addressed the label's concerns and released Calling Ov the Dead in late 1997, with American distribution following through Pendragon in 1998. In the process, Erickson had accumulated a substantial financial debt.
With a line-up consisting of Erickson, Stroht and German musician Ingo Beitz, the band toured Europe in 1998 with Off-Beat label-mate Suicide Commando, which attracted the attention of Metropolis Records, the largest industrial label in United States. The parent label of Pendragon, Metropolis distributed the album Neuralblastoma, as a partnership that would endure.
Velvet Acid Christ spent the majority of 1999 in the studio, first collaborating with Germany's Funker Vogt on a remix EP entitled Velvet Acid Christ Vs Funker Vogt: The Remix Assault, then shifting to Velvet Acid Christ's next full-length recording, Fun With Knives. With Workman an occasional contributor, Erickson sought production assistance on Fun With Knives from the bands Luxt and 4th New Army. Fun with Knives, released by Metropolis and new Off-Beat sub-label dependent, became the band's best-selling album. Sales were propelled by the singles Decypher and Fun with Drugs, and by the track Slut, which featured vocals from Luxt's Anna Christine.
In spite of the success of the band, stress had led Erickson into depression and increased drug abuse, which channeled into the creation of the band's next album, Twisted Thought Generator. Simultaneously, the band toured Europe with industrial acts Project X and Stromkern and toured the United States and Canada with bands Din_Fiv and Haujobb. The line-up of the band during this period was unstable. Workman, citing a conversion to Christianity, resigned from the band with a request that his name be retracted from all previous albums. The first leg of the European tour consisted of Erickson, Bird and Stroht; the second leg, Erickson and Olson. The North American tour was performed by Erickson, Stroht and drummer Paul Lipman. With various contributors, Erickson completed Twisted Thought Generator. Due to lingering disputes, he withdrew the band from Dependent Records and submitted the album to Metropolis.
A change of pace, new early material, and beyond (2001– present)
Erickson placed Velvet Acid Christ on a short hiatus in 2001, as he abandoned his dependence on drugs in favour of exercise and a vegan raw foodist diet. Newly clean, Erickson created the 2003 album Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia. Though critical response was mixed, Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia ranked #1 on Germany's Deutsche Alternative Charts (DAC) for four weeks after its release, and the album's single Pretty Toy reached #18 on the Billboard Alternative Chart during the same year. The album also marked the band's short-lived return to Dependent Records.
Erickson spent 2004 releasing and reissuing some of Velvet Acid Christ's earliest material. With the four-volume compilation series Between the Eyes, the band published a collection of its singles and B-sides, then followed with subsequent re-releases of Fate (Vol. 2), Pestilence (Vol. 3), and Neuralblastoma (Vol. 4). The band also offered free MP3 downloads of Dimension 8 and Oblivion Interface on its website until early 2005. Dimension 8, which had been available as a hidden bonus on Twisted Thought Generator, and Oblivion Interface (informally known as Between the Eyes, Vol. 5) provided fans with previously unheard work from the Cyber Christ-Vortex era of 1991–1994.
In 2005, Erickson collaborated with guitarist Todd Loomis on a new album, Lust for Blood, which was released on September 26, 2006. With Lust for Blood, the crew labored intensively to create a new overall sound while maintaining the band's original characteristics. Following its release, Lust for Blood ranked at the top of Germany's DAC for four weeks; the album's single release, Wound, ranked on the DAC's singles chart for eight weeks and held the #1 position for four weeks.
In 2009, Erickson began to create the next LP with minimal input from Loomis this time when he was working on his project The Twilight Garden. The result was The Art of Breaking Apart, released October 27, 2009. This LP was a tribute to bands like Current 93 and Death in June and brought VAC many new fans while making the others angry at the new direction of the music.
In 2010–2011, Bryan Erickson teamed up with William Anderson of Louisiana. William did a ton of sampling, and Bryan made a bunch of VAC B-sides that turned into Toxic Coma tracks. The project had a revolving door of members, again Bryan being the main constant. They released a LP entitled Satan Rising under Toxic Coma on Metropolis Records. It fused the techno sound of Fun With Knives and the brutal black humor of Toxic Coma. Erickson then began to write more music for future VAC LPs.
In October 2012, Velvet Acid Christ released their tenth LP entitled Maldire. The release marked a return to the dark electronic sound. Erickson formed a live band and toured extensively (2012-2014) to support the album. The latest album entitled Subconscious Landscapes was released October 28, 2014. A remastered Greatest Hits compilation was released by Metropolis Records on May 6, 2016.
Discography:
Studio Albums
1994 - Fate
1994 - Pestilence
1995 - Neuralblastoma
1997 - Calling Ov the Dead
1999 - Fun With Knives
2000 - Twisted Thought Generator
2003 - Hex Angel (Utopia/Dystopia)
2006 - Lust for Blood
2009 - The Art of Breaking Apart
2012 - Maldire
2014 - Subconscious Landscapes
Compilations / Demos / EPs / Singles
1992 - Oblivion Interface (demo re-released in 2004)
1993 - Dimension 8 (demo re-released in 2000)
1996 - Church of Acid (1994-1995 compilation)
1998 - Neuralblastoma (1994-1995 compilation)
1999 - Fun With Razors (remix EP)
1999 - Decipher (maxi-single)
1999 - Fun With Drugs (maxi-single)
1999 - The Remix Wars: Strike 4: Funker Vogt vs. Velvet Acid Christ (remix EP)
2001 - Dial 8 (maxi-single)
2003 - Pretty Toy (maxi-single)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 1 (singles compilation)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 2 (re-release of Fate)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 3 (re-release of Pestilence)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 4 (re-release of Neuroblastoma)
2006 - Wound (maxi-single)
2009 - Caustic Disco (maxi-single)
2016 - Greatest Hits (remastered compilation)
Crypulse
Velvet Acid Christ Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Settle down to find cold places, you live your life on a broken face
Her majesty following me to control this impurity
Our machines that never taught you how to love or be free
Containment, containment, isolation, a fair call
Your weeping soul lost in futility of this rightous way to be
So hold yourself, so cry till death
And your hands ripping up everything that you ever loved
She can't see the light, a vision not so bright
She put me in this hole, a seeping carnivore
She found the key to live in something I must give
A putrid parasite, she thinks she's always right
She cannot see a night, her future burns so bright
She put me in this hole, a creeping carnivore
She found the key to live in something I must give
A putrid parasite, she thinks she's always right
Freeze on a balcony of this stage covered in broken glass
That scrapes up all the sands of your time running low
Why did you sell your soul?
Why did you let me go?
I never understood this game so please refrain from tormenting me
She can't see the light, a vision not so bright
She put me in this hole, a seeping carnivore
She found the key to live in something I must give
A putrid parasite, she thinks she's always right
She cannot see a night, her future burns so bright
She put me in this hole, a creeping carnivore
She found the key to live in something I must give
A putrid parasite, she thinks she's always right
I must be out of time, I could be out of life
I must out of time, I could be out of mind
I must be out of my mind, I cannot see this light
I don't know why this is, I cannot give to live
The lyrics of Velvet Acid Christ's song Crypulse describe someone who feels trapped and isolated, living a life that feels broken and futile. The first verse suggests that they are being controlled by something or someone, represented by the metaphor of a chameleon with a million eyes. The second verse focuses on a female character, referred to as "her majesty," who seems to be the source of the singer's imprisonment. She is described as a "putrid parasite" who thinks she is always right, but can't see the darkness around her. The third verse is more abstract, with the singer freezing on a balcony covered in broken glass, lamenting the fact that they don't understand the game they are playing and asking why they let someone else take control of their life.
Overall, the lyrics of Crypulse seem to be about feeling trapped and struggling with issues of control and identity. The chameleon metaphor suggests that the singer feels like they are constantly being watched and manipulated, while the female character represents a force that is controlling them against their will. The broken glass and frozen balcony suggest a sense of isolation and despair, while the repeated refrain of "she can't see the light" emphasizes the idea that the singer is alone in their struggle.
Line by Line Meaning
This asset, a chameleon, a million eyes ripping in places
This entity is like a chameleon, constantly changing and observing everything with countless eyes that tear at its surroundings
Settle down to find cold places, you live your life on a broken face
If you settle down long enough, you'll find that the world is a cold and broken place, and you have to learn to adapt to survive
Her majesty following me to control this impurity
This powerful figure is following me to try and control the impurities within me
Our machines that never taught you how to love or be free
Our modern technology has failed to teach us how to love and be free, leaving us isolated and disconnected
Containment, containment, isolation, a fair call
Being contained and isolated is sometimes necessary for our own protection, even if it seems harsh
Your weeping soul lost in futility of this rightous way to be
Your soul is lost in the hopelessness of trying to fit into society's rigid and righteous standards
So hold yourself, so cry till death
Hold on to yourself and cry until the end, even if it feels like the only thing left to do
And your hands ripping up everything that you ever loved
Your despair might drive you to destroy everything you've ever loved or cared about
She can't see the light, a vision not so bright
She is blinded by her own ignorance and cannot see the truth
She put me in this hole, a seeping carnivore
She trapped me in this situation where I am constantly being drained and consumed by her greed
She found the key to live in something I must give
She found a way to thrive at my expense, taking everything I have to offer
A putrid parasite, she thinks she's always right
She is a despicable parasite who believes she is always in the right
She cannot see a night, her future burns so bright
She is blinded by her own ambition, unable to see the dark consequences of her actions
Freeze on a balcony of this stage covered in broken glass
Frozen in time on a dangerous and unstable path that leads to destruction
That scrapes up all the sands of your time running low
Time is running out, slowly being scraped away by the harsh realities of life
Why did you sell your soul?
Why did you compromise your beliefs and values for temporary gain?
Why did you let me go?
Why did you allow me to slip away from your grasp and leave you behind?
I never understood this game so please refrain from tormenting me
I never understood the rules of this cruel game, so please stop torturing me with it
I must be out of time, I could be out of life
I feel like I am running out of time and may not survive much longer
I must out of time, I could be out of mind
I feel like I am losing my grip on reality and my sanity
I must be out of my mind, I cannot see this light
I am in a state of confusion and unable to see a way out of my current situation
I don't know why this is, I cannot give to live
I don't understand why things have turned out this way, and I feel like I am unable to give anything to survive
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Julian Cennamo
on Pain
This is a song about coping with failed relationships and a broken home. The lyricist has been triggered by a life event- most likely a breakup. The event is particularly tragic because it brings back haunting memories of fear and abandonment experienced in childhood.